Okay, if you're involved in hiring people, you probably aren't a grunt. If your grunts are doing your hiring, your
company has major problems.

Not necessarily. I've worked with a couple different
companies that have their programmers chat for a while with
applicants before hiring them. Company gets more data about
what the applicant knows, applicant gets a more realistic
view of the company, and both sides get more of a sense for
personal fit. Everybody wins.